-
1763 Treaty of Paris
The 1763 Treaty of Paris between Great Britian, France, and Spain formally ended the Seven Years War and the French and Indian War. This treaty distributed land in North America previously owned by the French. Great Britain took most of French Canada, and Spain took Louisiana. -
Period: to
Build-up to Revolution
-
Proclamation Line of 1763
The Proclamation Line of 1763 was a line designed to prevent colonists from settling in the newly acquired territories that were given to the Indians. Unfortunately, this was never respected, and the colonists continued to settle in the Ohio Valley -
Paxton Uprising in Pennslvania
On December 14, 1763, about 50 Pennsylvanians attacked and killed about 20 Conestoga Indians. They later invaded Philadelphia, demanding colonial taxes to be cut and support against the natives in their region. Bloodshed was avoided through concessions by the colonial government. -
Sugar Act
On April 5, 1764, Parliament passed a modification of the 1733 Sugar and Molasses Act. This act was designed to raise taxes on sugar, and lower taxes on molasses, thereby disrupting colonial economies through reducing the markets they could sell to. -
Currency Act
The Currency Act of 1764 required the colonies to stop printing paper money and stop the circulation of existing currency. This was done in an attempt to re-establish a weighted currency based on the pound sterling. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was one of the most contested act passed by the British Parliament. It added a tax to every stamp that needed to be placed on a document. This mainly affected the upper class, whom it greatly outraged. -
Quartering Act
The Quartering Act of 1765 required the colonies to house British soldiers in barracks. If the barracks were full, then the soldiers were to be housed in public houses (ie inns and stables). If all public houses were full, then the colonists would have to house the remaining soldiers in their own homes. -
Parliament Repeals the Stamp Act
The Marquis of Rockingham, the British prime minister, pushed the king to stop the Stamp Act. Benjamin Franklin even made an appearance before the British House of Commons to try and stop the Stamp Act. Parliament finally repealed it. -
The Declaratory Act
The Declaratory Act was passed by Parliament on the same day that the Stamp Act was repealed. They did this to satisfy critics who said that if the colonists were able to get out of the Stamp Act, then they would cease to obey any orders. The Declaratory Act enforced authority "in all cases whatsoever." -
Townshend Duties Imposed
The Townshend Duties were a series of five acts enforced on the colonies in order to enforce compliance with trade regulations and begin to make a profit on the colonies. The five acts were the Revenue Act of 1767, the Indemnity Act, the Commissioners of Customs Act, the Vice Admiralty Court Act, and the New York Restraining Act. -
Boston Non-importation Agreement
Boston, New York, and Philadelphia merchants agreed to cease importation of certain goods from Great Britain. They stopped importation of tea, paper, glass, or painters colours, until the taxes on them would be repealed. -
Period: to
Non-Importation Agreement
From 1769 until 1770, several colonies agreed to not import many goods form Great Britian. -
Boston Massacre
On March 5, 1770, five colonists were killed by British regulars. This event was the culmination of all the tensions between colonists and the British over theTownshend Acts. -
Townshend Duties repealed
On March 5, 1770, Lord North proposed a motion to partially repeal the Townshend Revenue Act. Parliament approved this on April 12. -
Battle of Alamance Creek
The Regulator Movement lasted from 1765 to 1771 and existed in both of the Carolinas. On May 16, 1771, a large number of Regulators were defeated in the battle of Alamance Creek. Six of the leaders were hanged for treason. -
Gaspée Affair
The Gaspée was a British schooner that enforced unfair trade regulations on colonial merchants. It ran aground in Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, where many angry colonists boarded it and burned it. -
Boston Tea Party
A group of Massachusetts Patriots (in protest of the monopoly on tea by the British East India Company created by the Tea Act) boarded three tea ships and dumped about 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. Did I mention they dressed up as Mohawk Indians to cover their identities? -
Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts) Passed
Starting on June 1, 1774, Parliament began to enact the Intolerable Acts. These four acts (not including the Quebec Act, which isn't considered part of the Intolerable Acts) closed the Boston Harbor, made Massachusetts a royal colony, moved all trials of royal officers to Britain, and re-asserted the Quartering Act. -
First Continental Congress
56 delegates from twelve colonies met in Philadelphia to discuss solutions to the problems of British contol. They wanted to avoid violence and attempted to petition King George III to stop the Intolerable Acts. -
Lexington and Concord
General Thomas Gage sent about 1,000 soldiers to Lexington and Concord on the night of April 18. They went to Concord to seize a large supply of rebel gunpowder. Along the way, a group of minutemen in Lexington tried to stop them, but were killed. When the British got to Concord, they found the gunpowder removed. The shots fired that day were the "shots heard round the world." -
Signing of the Declaration of Independence
The most famous date in American History, July 4, 1776 is obviously the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This document formally declared the 13 colonies independant of Britain through a list of grievances that broke the Social Contract Theory.
