The Road to Revolution

  • Period: to

    French and Indian War

    -A seven-year war between New France and colonial New England
    -An ongoing battle over land and the fur trade won by the English
    -Sent Britain into debt causing the enforcement of taxation in the colonies
    -Constant war readied individual towns for the battles to come and training local militias
    -Colonists learned Native battle tactics that would be integrated into their attacks against the Brittish
    -Brittish troops were left in the colonies
    -Proclamation of 1763~ Criminalized western expansion
  • Sugar Act

    -An indirect tax put on sugar and molasses
    -Created to decrease smuggling
    -Britain issued Writs of Assistance which allowed ships to be searched without a warrant or probable cause
    -One of the first major acts of taxation without representation and Brittish imposition on the colonies' rights
  • Stamp Act

    -A direct tax on all printed goods in the colonies- the main source of media
    -Met with resistance from the colonists~
    -Stamp Act Congress was founded by Patrick Henry
    -Sons of Liberty
    -Daughters of Liberty
    Boycotting taxed goods
    -Non-importation agreements with retailers and store owners
    -Sparks aggression and tarring and feathering of tax collectors/ship searchers
  • Townshend Acts

    -Puts a tax on less popular Commodities~ Glass, Paint, Lead, Tea
    -Money from taxes was used to keep troops in the colonies
    -Troops in the colonies lead to the Boston Massacre
    -Repealed in 4 years except for the tax on tea
    -Tax on tea leads to smuggling tea which leas to the Tea Act
  • Tea Act

    -Upheld the Tax on tea and awarded a monopoly on tea to the Brittish East Indian Tea Company because the company was going bankrupt and smuggling was rampant
    -Causes the Boston Tea Party
  • Boston Tea Party

    -352 Mass colonists dres up as Mowhawk Indians and dump hundreds of chests full of tea into the Boston Harbour as a protest to the Tea act
    -Brittish lose $1-3 million of tea
    -A shift from mostly peaceful protest to clear civil disobedience giving redcoats reason to use force
    -Caused the Intolerable Acts
  • Intolerable Acts

    -A series of acts that closed the Boston Harbour, took away the colony's right to self-government, allowed soldiers to stay in colonial homes and eat colonists' food
    -John Cage becomes governer of Mass
    -20k more troops are stationed in the colonies to arrest rebels
    -Individual Mass towns start training local militias
    -Mass seeks help from the other colonies~ causes the 1st Continental Congress
  • 1st Continental Congress

    -An intercolonial meeting to discuss Brittish threat
    -Established unalienable rights
    -Mass got support from some Virginian influencers
    -Reengage in boycotts and non-importation agreements
    Committees of Correspondents enforce participation in boycotts and non-importation agreements
    -Creates a supreme system of travel between colonies
    -Rebel leaders are waned by the Brittish Army
  • Lexington and Concord

    -Brittish storm Lexington & Concord in search of munition because of the rising threat of local colonial militias and to prevent a war
    -Paul Revier and William Dawes warn Lexington & Concord of the Brittish arrival giving them time to hide munition
    -Colonists ambush the Brittish on their way back through Lexington
    -Brittish casualties outweigh Colonial casualties
    -The first victory for colonists shows other colonies freedom is possible
    -Brittish aggression causes the 2nd Continental Congress
  • 2nd Continental Congress

    -2nd intercolonial meeting bc/o Lexington &Concord
    -The shift from reconciliation to separation
    -John Adams nominates George Washington from Virginia as commander in cheif of colonial forces
    -Gets more colonies involved in splitting from England
    -Declaration of Independence!!