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Stamp Act
The act passed by parliament that taxed the colonists on every purchase and legal document. -
Declaratory Act
An act asserting Parliament's authority to tax and legislate for all of Britain's American possessions. -
Boston Masacre
Bostonians gathered on March 5, 1770 and threw snowballs at British soldiers to protest their stationing in Boston. The soldiers responded by firing into the crowd. -
Boston Tea Party
After three British ships carrying tea arrived in Boston harbor on November 28, 1773, the Bostonians responded in December by dressing as Native Americans and pillaging the ships and dumping the tea into the harbor. -
Intolerable Act
In March 1774, the Parliament ordered that all ports in Boston be closed until the tea was paid for by the colonists, thereby prohibiting all but costal trade in food and firewood. -
Québec Act
The British enacted this to grant greater religious freedom to Catholics, but upset the Protestant colonists. It reinstated French civil law and annexed all of the land east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio river to Québec. -
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War of Independence
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Declaration of Independence
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Articles of Confederation
This document served as the United States' first constitution, and was in force from March 1, 1781, until 1789 when the present day Constitution went into effect. -
Treaty of Paris
British surrender at Yorktown -
Shay's Rebellion
Shay represented the American citizens of Massachusetts who opposed the high taxes and laws of land foreclosure that oppressed them. He argued that the government should be overthrown if it takes away liberties from its people. Shays's army defeated the Federal armory at Springfield in an assault. The Confederation Congress responded to the assault by calling for a revision of the Articles of Confederation. This event was significant because it represented how many Americans citizens and politi -
Constitution
Established the government of the United States. -
Assumption of Debts
Congress ordered Alexander Hamilton to evaluate the national debt and propose a resolution to support the government's credit. The sum of Hamilton's three categories of debt totaled approximately $63 million (now equivalent to $1.7 billion compared to today's $17 trillion debt). The national assumption of debts proposed that total debt be split among the states. This solution was very controversial because some states had already paid back their debts while the rest of the states still -
Bill of Rights
The First Congress proposed 12 amendements to the Constitution and the 10 that were approved became known as the Bill of Rights. -
Whiskey Rebellion
In July of 1794, a group of western Pennsylvania farmers violently resisted two government officials enforcing Hamilton's tax on whiskey production. The purpose of the tax was to financially cover the decision to fund state debts. This retaliation sparked larger scale retaliations. In August, Washington summoned nearly 13,000 soldiers from local militias to disperse 7,000 rebels planning on destroying Pittsburg. Washington's imposing military action demonstrated that the national government woul