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Sugar Act
Britain lowered the molasses tax and in turn raised the cost of molasses, but Americans hadn't realy been paying taxes in the first place, so they we not pleased. The goal of the Sugar Act was to decrease smuggling, and created an indirect tax instead of a direct tax. Britain then issued the Writs of Assisstance, which meant the British could search property without a warrant. The Americans were not happy, to say the least. -
Stamp Act
After the Sugar Act went poorly, Brits thought it would be good to impose a direct tax on printed goods. The tax ranged from $.01 for a newspaper to $10 for a diploma. Americans felt their rights were violated and they resisted a LOT. Boycotts and non-importation agreements happened along with some crazy people being all violent and tarring & feathering along with murdering. Americans continue to smuggle and refuse to pay taxes. Attacks on soldiers and tax collectors was popular. -
Repealed Sugar & Stamp Acts
Brits finally realized the acts were bad & stopped that madness. This lead the British to the Townshend Acts. -
Boston Massacre
While the British were occupying the colonies, some colonists decided to start rioting outside the building in which the Brits were stationed. There were many people, around 250, shouting and harrassing the British. At some point, somebody yells "Fire!" and the British end up killing 6 people. -
Tea Act
A tax on tea because of the British East India Co. in danger because of Dutch competition and poor investments. This gives the British tea co. a monopoly on tea in America. This leads to the Boston Tea Party. -
Boston Tea Party
Boston folks dumped (adjusted to inflation) about $1-3 million of tea into the Boston Harbor. The king then thought that the Boston folks were a threat to British rule. Also the tea turned the ocean brown, impressive. This leads to the Intolerable Acts. -
Intolerable Acts
Due to the Boston Tea Party, the king is super mad and sends 20,000 troops to America, shuts down Boston Harbor, and redue Boston to "state of dependance." The goal was to isolate Boston and make them lose a lot of money to basically pay off their tea debt to Britain. The Intolerable Acts lead to boycotts and non-importation into Boston, lead by the newly formed Congress in the form of Committees of Corrospondance. -
Congress
The Intolerable Acts lead America to get their own congress together and organize Committees of Corrospondance, but I'll call them CoC. the CoC enforce boycotts and non-importation agreements against Britain. The CoC blacklist folks in the newspaper who import British goods. The goal was to avoid mobs, and almost every colony had a CoC. The boycotts lead Britain to attempt to seize leaders the folowing year in Lexington & Concord. -
Olive Branch Petition
The moderates in America write the Olive Branch Petition to basically tell the king they want to mend their relationship. The petition asks for a cease fire in Boston, the king to repeal the Intolerable Acts, & for the king to define Colonial rights. The king thinks that the whole petition is a joke and doesn't even read it. The king declares the colonies in a state of rebellion and the colonies bond over this. This really paves the way for revolution. -
Lexington & Concord
A militia begins to form in Britain which alarms the king, he takes immediate action. He sends troops to Lexington and Concord to seize leaders, rebel rousers, and ammunition. This turns out to the the "shot heard 'round the world" and turns out to be an awful plan. The British are loud and everyone realizes they're there and Paul Revere and the spy network let them know and by the time the Brits got to the armory, all of the ammunition was gone. British get nothing from their failed raid.