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The French and Indian war
The war provided Great Britain enormous territorial gains in North America, but disputes over subsequent frontier policy and paying the war's expenses led to colonial discontent, and ultimately to the American Revolution. -
The proclamation of 1776
The proclamation line separating the British colonies on the Atlantic coast from American Indian lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. In the centuries since the proclamation, it has become one of the cornerstones of Native American law in the United States and Canada. -
The Boston Blockade
British Parliament passes the Boston Port Act, closing the port of Boston and demanding that the city's residents pay for the nearly $1 million worth of tea dumped into Boston Harbor during the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773. -
Taxes
They were tied to Britain through trade and by the way they were governed. Britain also needed money to pay for its war debts. The King and Parliament believed they had the right to tax the colonies. They decided to require several kinds of taxes from the colonists to help pay for the French and Indian War. -
Sugar Act
The sugar Act was a law that attempted to curb the smuggling of sugar and molasses in the colonies by reducing the previous tax rate and enforcing the collection of duties. -
The Boston massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight between a patriot mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed and this led to a campaign by speech writers to rouse the ire of the citizenry. -
The Boston tea party
American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing taxation without representation, dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
The laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British to the detriment of colonial goods. -
The continental congress
During the congress, delegates organized an economic boycott of Great Britain in protest and petitioned the King for a redress of grievances. -
The Declaration of Independence
American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain. The Declaration summarized the colonists' motivations for seeking independence.
