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Navigation Acts
Laws passed to try and restrict colonial trade, but due to salutary neglect these were not enforced. The acts made it so the colonists could only buy and trade with the British. The colonists smuggled goods from natives, the Spanish, and anywhere else they could find that was cheaper than England. These didn't cause issues until after the French and Indian War, because of salutary neglect, until the British started to amp up the restrictions starting the initial tension between the two areas. -
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French and Indian War
This war was fought between the British and the French with their Indian Allies. However, the colonists did end up doing lots of fighting. When the war was over, the colonists blamed Britain for the war, and Britain blamed the colonies. The war had cost parliament a lot of money, and to make this money back they started enforcing the Second Navigation Acts. Tension also arose because the colonists were not given the Ohio River Valley, a lucrative trading and resource area that they fought for. -
Treaty of Paris
This was the treaty that ended the French and Indian War. It gave Colonists the land East of the Mississippi River to Boston and gave the French everything West of that. This divide is the Proclamation line of 1763. This is very influential because one of the biggest reasons that colonists wanted to fight was to have the OHR, and the king gave the area to France. This violated the colonists' right to land. -
First Quartering Act
This act was a part of the second set of the Navigation Acts. The Quartering Act was specifically difficult, because it was a direct invasion of the colonists right to privacy. Not only did housing a British soldier take up space in the colonists' homes, it also was a financial burden on the household. They were expected to pay for the soldiers living. These acts were all passed without representation. This led to people to resent the soldiers and taunt them in the streets. -
Boston Massacre
The taunting and name calling became too much, when a crowd started throwing things like rocks and snowballs at the soldiers, and in the chaos a shot rang out. The soldiers started shooting into an open crowd and killed 5 colonists. This incident was used as propaganda to try and recruit people to the rebellion. Although the soldiers were found not guilty, due to the defense of John Adams, in the hearts of the colonists this was the point of no return. -
Boston Tea Party
The British East India Company was in danger of going bankrupt, so in solution, Parliament decided to give the company an exclusive monopoly. In protest of this, a group called the “Sons of Liberty” dressed up as Native Americans and dumped 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. This caused the King to be very angry, and then passed the Intolerable Acts. -
First Continental Congress
This was the first act of government pertaining to all of the colonies, in response to the Intolerable Acts. They wanted to take into consideration all of the options to try and fight for their rights, so they decided to try a boycott. They also made “Committees of Correspondence” to try and enforce the boycotts. This also led to the Second Continental Congress, which took place after the unexpected battles of Lexington and Concord occurred. -
The Intolerable Acts
These acts were a result of the Boston tea party. The acts that were put into place were the second Quartering Acts, Boston Port Bill, Administration of Justice Act, Massachusetts Government Act, and the Quebec Act. These acts took away rights of self-government, shut down the ports in Boston, allowed British soldiers to stay in homes, and cut off the Western colonies of CT, MA, and VA. This was a big issue because the colonies had been self-governing for hundreds of years. -
Lexington and Concord
These battles started when British redcoats marched into Lexington and Concord, in an attempt to seize an arms cache. In Lexington, The British ended up killing 8 militiamen and injuring 11 more. In Concord, the city burned, and they found nothing. These were very influential battles because even though the British Army was one of the strongest armies in the nation, and the militia was men with little to no experience, the US outshot them 273 to 95. This was a huge morale boost for the colonies. -
Second Continental Congress
This was called in direct response to the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The question was should they try and fully break away, or try and reconcile themselves with Britain? An influential moment during this was John Adams nominating George Washington as the leader of the army. This was a huge deal because George Washington is from VA, not Boston where John Adams lives. This shows that he truly wanted every colony to come together, and not just have his city in charge of everything.