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Proclamation of 1763
-The Proclamation made it illegal for colonists to settle west of the Appalachians, illegal to move into Ohio or Tennessee or Florida. -Parliament was hoping this would satisfy the Native Americans in the area, and reduce the need for troops along the border to protect colonists from Indian attacks, which would of course save the British money. -It sounded like a good plan, but the law did not succeed because so many settlers had already begun to move west. -
Sugar Act
- A tax passed by the British to pay for the Seven Years War.
- The Sugar and Stamp Acts were done away with in 1766.
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Stamp Act
-The Stamp Act was a tax put on the American colonies by the British in 1765. -They had to pay a tax on all sorts of printed materials such as newspapers, magazines and legal documents. -It was called the Stamp Act because the colonies were supposed to buy paper from Britain that had an official stamp on it that showed they had paid the tax. -
Quartering Act
-The Quartering Act of 1765 was passed on May 3rd, 1765 and required colonial assemblies to provide housing, food and drink to British troops stationed in their towns with the purpose of improving living conditions and decreasing the cost to the crown. -This act was implemented by General Tomas Gage, the commander in chief of North America. -Soldiers were to be housed in barracks or empty public buildings and not in private residences. -
Townshend Act
-The Townshend Acts were a series of laws passed by the British government on the American colonies in 1767. -They placed new taxes and took away some freedoms from the colonists including the following:
* New taxes on imports of paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea. *Established an American Customs Board in Boston to collect taxes. *Set up new courts in America to prosecute smugglers (without using a local jury). Gave British officials the right to search colonists' houses and businesses. -
British Troops Arrive in Boston
- British troops arrived in 1768
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Boston Massacre
-Shooting of five American colonists by British troops on March 5, 1770. -One person, an African-American man named Crispus Attacks, was killed. -Nearly every part of the story is disputed by both sides. -Did the colonists have weapons? The British say rocks and other such weapons were hurled at them. But the British had guns, and they did open fire. -The Boston Massacre deepened American distrust of the British military presence in the colonies. -
Tea Act
-The tea from the British East India Company was more expensive than what could be imported from elsewhere and they had a monopoly of the sale of 'legal' tea in the 13 colonies. -One of the main leaders in the protest in the colonies against the Tea Tax was John Hancock. -Colonists refused to allow the ships to unload their tea in the harbors in America, and the ships often sailed home with full cargo. -
Boston Tea Party
On the night of December 16, 1773, dozens of colonists boarded three ships in Boston Harbor and hurled 342 crates of tea overboard in an act of political protest. While the story of the midnight raid has been often told, here are 10 facts you may not know about the Boston Tea Party. -
Intolerable Acts
-These Acts were the harshest so far of all the Acts passed by Parliament. The closing of Boston's port alone would cost the colony (and the American colonies as a whole) a ton of money. The Regulating Act was aimed at curtailing revolutionary activities. The Quartering Act angered colonists who didn't want soldiers (especially Redcoats) in their houses. And the Quebec Act was a direct insult to Americans, who had been denied the same sorts of rights that the Quebec residents now got. -
Continental Congress
-From 1774 to 1789, the Continental Congress served as the government of the 13 American colonies and later the United States.
-The First Continental Congress, which was comprised of delegates from the colonies, met in 1774 in reaction to the Coercive Acts, a series of measures imposed by the British government on the colonies in response to their resistance to new taxes.
-In 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened after the American Revolutionary War (1775-83) had already begun. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
-The Battles fought on April 19,1775, kicked off the American Revolutionary War (1775-83).
-Tensions had been building for many years between residents of the 13 American colonies and the British authorities, particularly in Massachusetts.
-On the night of April 18,1775, hundreds of British troops marched from Boston to Concord in order to seize an arms cache.
- A confrontation on the Lexington town green started off the fighting, and soon the British were hastily retreating under intense fire. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
-The Battle of Bunker Hill was not actually fought on Bunker Hill. -The British won the Battle of Bunker Hill. -It was one of the bloodiest battles of the American Revolution. -A future U.S. president watched the Battle of Bunker Hill. -British soldiers killed at Bunker Hill are buried inside Old North Church. -The patriot heroes included a former slave. -The identification of Joseph Warren’s body may have involved the first example of forensic dentistry in America. -
George Washington is appointed Commander-in-Chief
-Washington was appointed commander of the Continental Army on June 14, 1775. He would not return to Mount Vernon until 6 years later.
-Prior to his appointment as head of the Continental Army, Washington had never commanded a large army in the field.
-Washington and the Continental army narrowly escaped total destruction in the New York campaign of 1776.
- Washington’s smallpox inoculation program was one of his best decisions of the war
-Washington deftly put down a growing military rebellion. -
Signing of the Treaty of Paris
-The Treaty of Paris signaled the end of the French and Indian War between England and France. -The first point, and most important to the Americans, was that Britain recognize the Thirteen Colonies to be free and independent states. That Britain no longer had any claim on the land or government. -The second major point was that the boundaries of the United States allowed for western expansion. This would prove important later as the US continued to grow west all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
