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Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation banned settlements by white people on historically Native American lands. It formalized land claims and meant that no settlers could buy or settle on those lands unless the tribe that owned it gave consent. -
Sugar Act
The Sugar Act was intended to reduce the amount of sugar and molasses being smuggled into the colonies, creating a monopoly for the British West Indies' molasses and sugar trade. -
Currency Act
The Currency Act withdrew paper currencies from circulation, which hampered the colonial economy significantly because now all they had was a limited supply of British currency, no longer able to use their own. -
Stamp Act 1765
The Stamp Act taxed all commercial and legal papers, newspapers, playing cards, dice, and pamphlets, which sparked the first major protests among the American colonies, who viewed this as an unfair breach of their right to representation in Parliament. -
Quartering Act of 1765
The Quartering Act of 1765 required colonial authorities to provide shelter, food, and transportation to British soldiers, among other needs. A cost-cutting measure, this angered many colonists, who found themselves with unwelcome and often hostile guests that did as they pleased. This act is the reason that we have the Third Amendment, often known as the Quartering Amendment. -
Declaratory Act
This act declared that the taxing authority of the British Parliament was the same in the American colonies as it was in Britain. In addition, it reinforced that all British laws were bound to the colonists no matter what, in any and all cases. -
Townshend Acts
These were a series of acts passed by Parliament that cracked down on the colonists, including a heavy tax on tea. This angered the colonists and lead to the Boston Tea Party, amongst other small acts of rebellion. -
Boston Massacre
Tensions rose in Boston over the oppressive nature of the British, leading to mass protests. One of those protests turned into a massacre when an accidental discharge led to eight American colonists being gunned down in an act of violence which fueled colonial anger and revolutionary sentiments. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a culmination of all the anger and resentment caused by excessive taxing. A group of colonists dressed up as Native Americans and raided tea ships, destroying the crates and dumping a large amount of tea into the Boston Harbor. -
Quartering Act 1774
This act forced Americans to allow British soldiers to quarter themselves in unoccupied buildings, building a further sense of unease and distrust between the two groups. -
Coercive Acts
The Coercive Acts, also called the Intolerable Acts, were a series of four acts passed by the British government. They included acts closing the Boston Harbor, replacing the Massachusetts government, allowing British officials charged with serious crimes to be tried elsewhere, and realigning the colonial map. All of these led to a rising revolutionary sentiment within the colonists, who viewed this as an affront to their rights. -
Quebec Act
This act expanded the borders of Quebec granted by the Proclamation of 1763 to the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and the land between the Great Lakes and the Hudson River. This angered the colonists, who viewed the act as coercive and yet another grudge to hold against the British.