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Proclamation of 1763
King George III issued the Proclamation of 1763 in an attempt to placidate the Native Americans, monopolize fur trade with them, and keep the American colonies easy to regulate. The colonists saw this as taunting, as if the King was taking their reward from the French and Indian war away from them. -
Currency Act
This act was passed in order to protect British merchants from being paid by colonists with devalued colonial currencies. The colonists were angered by this act because the shortage of hard captial would worsen the contemporary British-American trade deficit. -
Sugar Act
King George III passed the Sugar Act in order to raise British revenue to pay for the cost of having soldiers stationed in the Americas and to stop the smuggling of taxed goods. The Americans boycotted taxed goods in response because they felt that they were being taxed without representaion. -
Stamp Act
King George III passed the Stamp Act in 1756 as a way of generating increased revenue for Britain in order to pay for the cost of stationing soldiers in the American colonies. This outraged the colonists because it changed the standard of taxation from regulating commece to raising money for Britian. -
Quartering Act
This act was passed because soldiers would need a place to stay if current military barracks filled up. The colonists resented this act because they did not want to be in the midst of the soliders, and if they must, they would want the option to consent or not to consent. -
Repeal of Stamp Act and passage of Declaratory Act
The Stamp Act was repealed because American boycotts were causing British trade to suffer. They passed the Declaratory Act in an attempt to maintain their image. The colonists did not see the implication of taxes in this Act and ignored it due to their celebration at what they percieved to be a political victory over Britain. -
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Townshend Acts
The Townshend duties were implemented in order to raise revenue for Britain and enforce the trade regulations imposed on the colonies. It led to colonial boycotts, petitions, newspaper attacks, and the stationing of troops in America, notably in Boston. The colonies were upset by continued taxation without representation and a desire for the acts to be repealed. Ultimately, the Townshend duties were a significant factor in the occurance of the Boston Massacre. -
Tea Act, cont.
because they saw the tea tax not being repealed as others had been as a tactic to get colonists to support the taxes. -
Tea Act
The Tea Act was passed to help the British East India Company overcome their financial trouble and to remove the massive tea surplus which was causing the financial trouble. In response, Massachusetts colonists carried out the Boston Tea Party, in which they disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians and boarded three British ships in the night, dumping 92,000lbs of tea into the harbor before fleeing. The colonists protested the Tea Act because they saw the tea tax not being repealed, as taxes on -
The Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable (or Coercive) Acts were a series of acts passed by the British Parliament in 1774. The goal of the acts was to punish the Massachusetts colonists for the Boston Tea Party, including closing down ports until the tea had been pain for. The colonists convened the First Continental Congress in reponse, believing that the acts were a threat to the freedom of all of the colonies. -
Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military altercations of the Revoluntionary War. British soldiers were sent in to attack militia supplies, but the militia caught wind of it and moved the supplies to different locations. The soldiers pushed the outnumbered militia back from Lexington and proceeded to Concord. Then, the militia joined forces with other minutemen and pushed the soldiers back. The soldiers then marched back to Boston and garnered enough troops to make up a -
Lexington and Concord, cont.
combined force of 1700 men. They then began the Siege of Boston. -
2nd Continental Congress
Location: Philadelphia
Significance: Declaration of Indepence signed during its meetings
Result: Independence declared from Britain
Effect on War: Managed colonial war effort -
Battle of Bunker Hill
Location: Boston / Bunker Hill / Breed's Hill
Significance: Showed Britain that the war was serious
Result: 450 American casualties, 1054 British casualties, British pyrrhic victory
Effect on War: Boosted American morale, showed Britian the war was for real -
Declaration of Independence
Location: Philadelphia
Significance: Designated US as a soverign nation (not yet ratified)
Result: Paved way for Bill of Rights and the Constitution -
Battle of Saratoga
Location: Stillwater, Saratoga, New York
Significance: Turning point in the war, 6,222 British captured
Result: 330 American casualties, 7357 British casualties
Effect: Tipped the scales of war to favor the Americans -
Battle of Yorktown
Location: Yorktown, Virginia
Significance: American victory led to British-American negotiations
Result: 389 American casualties, roughly 8200 British and German casualties (~7500 POWs)
Effect: Negotiations of peace began, leading to the Treaty of Paris. -
Treaty of Paris
Location: Paris, France
Significance: Ended the American Revolutionary War.
Result: Declaration of Independence ratified, peace between Britain and America, and European nations supporting America
Effect on War: Ended the War
