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The Royal Proclamation of 1763
A proclamation made by King George III after the Seven Years War forbidding any settlement of land westward past the Appalachian Mountains, as well as making it so that a license was required from a governor to trade with the Indians. The colonists felt that this infringed upon their freedom, and began to question the authority of Britain, wanting to expand as they please and trade whenever they want. -
Sugar Act
The Sugar Act was an act made to end the smuggling of sugar and molasses from the French and Dutch West Indies, as well as taxing these products in an attempt to increase revenue to be able to function properly after the increase in responsibilities following the Seven Years War. The colonists really began to question their freedoms and rights when these taxes began pouring in like they did. -
Currency Act
The Currency Act was made in an attempt to regulate paper money, as the Parliament sought to protect British merchants and creditors from being paid in a depreciated colony currency. This among many of the acts during this time angered the colonists and the relationship between Britain and America continued to grow bitter. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was an act created by the British Parliament in an attempt to rebuild funds which were used in the Seven Years War, imposing direct taxes on many printed materials and products in America and requiring them to have a stamp for approval and use. This began the questioning of legality of these acts when colonists argued they were being taxed without representation in the British Parliament. -
The Quartering Act
This act stated that British soldiers would be housed in American barracks and public houses, as well as inns, alehouses, barns, and other buildings in an attempt to maintain peace between the Indians and the colonists as well as maintain peace in general, however the colonists began to dispute the legality of this act, with this being just another act of Great Britain which infringed on their rights and freedoms that they thought they had. -
Declaratory Act
This act was declared by the British Parliament after the repeal of the Stamp Act, stating that the British Parliament's taxing authority was the exact same in America as it was in Great Britain, however colonists still had their doubts and questions still arose on how legal these acts really were. -
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Townshend Acts
With the Townshend Acts, a series of laws passed by the British Parliament to tax the colonists even more and take away some of their freedoms after the increase in questions over their leadership, the colonists began to get very angry and started to seriously contemplate if Britain was the best leader for the New World. -
Boston Massacre
Civilians had enough of the presence of British troops and the colonial policy enforced by Britain and a crowd formed outside the customs house of Boston, with the crowd harassing a group soldiers guarding this house. When a soldier was knocked out by a snowball and his firearm discharged into the crowd, five civilians were hit and killed, known as the Boston Massacre. -
Tea Act
In an effort to support the declining business of the East India Company, the Parliament exempted the company from its tea import duties and allowed it to sell its tea directly to the colonists. The colonists saw this as an indirect tax which was financially supporting yet another British company and were angered heavily by this new "tax" that was being placed among the many before it. -
Boston Tea Party
The anger that built up over the year after the Tea Acts were enacted finally led to the colonists doing something, anything it would take to let Britain know they would not tolerate all the taxation that was being placed on them. This led to a group of colonists dressing up as Mohawk Indians and dumping around £9,000 of East India Company tea into the Boston harbor to make a statement, the colonists would no longer taxation without representation. -
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The Intolerable Acts
After the Boston Tea Party, Britain began to take measures to slow down the rebellion that was beginning to form by enacting four measures known as the Intolerable Acts which stripped Massachusetts of self-government and judicial independence, however the colonists then responded with a general boycott of all British goods.