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Writs of Assistance
In 1760, governor Bernard of Massachusetts authorized the use by revenue officers of writs of assistance. Writs of assistance were documents which served as a general search warrant, allowing customs officials to enter any ship or building that they suspected for any reason might hold smuggled goods. The colonists protested and rioted in response. -
Sugar Act
The Sugar Act was passed by Parliament on 5 April 1764, and it arrived in the colonies at a time of economic depression. ... As protests against the Sugar Act developed, it was the economic impact rather than the constitutional issue of taxation without representation that was the main focus for the colonists. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act of 1765 was abhorred by the colonists because it represented an effort by the British to use taxes in order to raise money, and not to regulate commerce as in the past. For the colonists, this set a troubling precedent that would open the doors for more extensive taxation in the future. -
Townshend Acts
The Stamp Act was essential to the Boycott of British goods because it was the first direct taxation on the colonies; also the act was valid throughout all the English colonies. This act was the final straw to the colonists because the act taxed all the printed materials essential for information and entertainment. -
Boston Massacre
Boston Massacre. Conflicts between the British and the colonists had been on the rise because the British government had been trying to increase control over the colonies and raise taxes at the same time. The event in Boston helped to unite the colonies against Britain. -
Tea Act
The British government granted the company a monopoly on the importation and sale of tea in the colonies. ... Their resistance culminated in the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773, in which colonists boarded East India Company ships and dumped their loads of tea overboard. -
Intolerable Acts
In order to punish the colonists of Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, King George III had a series of laws passed in 1774 called the Coercive Acts. 1) The port of Boston was closed until the colonists paid for the destroyed tea. -
Lexington & Concord
For the British, 73 were killed, 174 were wounded, and 26 were missing. While the colonists lost many minutemen, the Battles of Lexington and Concord were considered a major military victory and displayed to the British and King George III that unjust behavior would not be tolerated in America.
