The Problem of Empire Timeline

By Beccamunn

  • Treaty of Paris

    The French and Indian War came to an end as French surrenders. To accumulate with the victory, British came into debt. To try to fix this, Britain decided to make the American Colonies pay taxes for their part of the war.

  • Proclamation Line

    Proclamation Line established boundary restricting westward settlement

  • Sugar Act

    The Sugar Act reduces tax on molasses and strengthens compliance. This act also increased the presence of the British Navy in an effort to reduce piracy.

  • The Stamp Act

    The Stamp Act puts a tax on all papers that are used for legal purposes. This means that all printed materials must bear a tax stamp provided by commissioned distributors who would collect the tax in exchange for the stamp.

  • Declaratory Act

    The cause of a strong colonial opposition, the stamp act was removed. However, it reminded the colonists that Britain has the power to levy taxes whenever they want.

  • Townshend Revenue Act

    At this point all taxes on the Colonists were there to only help increase British revenue. So, the Townshend Duties placed taxes on imports, but they went to the Governors' salaries.

  • Tea Act

    The Tea Acts objective was to reduce the massive amount of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company and to help the financial struggle of the company survive.

  • Boston Tea Party

    The Tea Act led to American colonist frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing "taxation without representation" into the Boston tea party. This led to a political protest where the colonists dressed up as Indians and boarded a British vessel and threw hundreds of chests of tea into the harbor.

  • Coercive Acts

    The cause of the Boston Tea Party led to a series of laws called the Coercive Acts. This sought to punish Massachusetts as warning to other colonies.

  • First Continental Congress

    Twelve of the thirteen colonies met to discuss the Coercive Acts and to make sure Britain understood how they felt about the new laws. The Colonies that went organized a colonial resistance to Parliament's Coercive Acts.