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Writs of Assistance
Documents which served as a general search warrant, allowing customs officials to enter any ship or building that they suspected for any reason to have smuggled goods. It was introduced to enforce the Acts of Trade. The colonists protested that the writs violated their rights as British subjects. -
Proclamation of 1763
Issued by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory. It forbade all settlements past a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains. The goal was to diminish tension with the Natives. This ultimately failed to meet the modest expectations of the Native Americans. -
Sugar Act
An act designed to eliminate the illegal sugar trade between the continental colonies and the French and Spanish West Indies. This raised the duty on sugar, and lowered duty on molasses, which furthered damaging the market for sugar grown in the colonies. -
Stamp Act
Tax on all printed matter including, but not limited to, playing cards, legal documents, and letters. This increased the resentment that the colonists had towards the new regulations. Issues of taxation and representation arose. -
Quartering Act
Required American colonies to provide the British soldiers with any needed accommodations or housing. It also required colonists to provide food for any British soldiers in the area. Colonists hated how this was mandatory and how there was no consent. -
Stamp Act Congress
A meeting held in New York City consisting of representatives from some of the British colonies in North America. The congress was formed to protest the newly passed Stamp Act. It adopted a declaration of rights as well as sent letters of complaints to the King and Parliament. This was the first sign of colonial unity and organized resistance. -
Declaratory Act
It was accompanied by the repeal of the Stamp Act. The act wanted to take full complete authority over the colonies by making laws that were passed by the British Parliament. The colonists didn’t listen to the act overall. This act outraged them as they knew more acts would be coming. -
Townshend Acts
A series of measures introduced into the English Parliament by Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend in 1767, the Townshend Acts imposed duties on glass, lead, paints, paper and tea imported into the colonies. Townshend hoped the acts would defray imperial expenses in the colonies, but many Americans viewed the taxation as an abuse of power, resulting in the passage of agreements to limit imports from Britain. -
Boston Massacre
Scuffling broke out in the streets between colonists and British soldiers. British soldiers fired into the crowd, killing 5. The "massacre" was greatly used as propaganda for the patriot cause. -
Tea Act
British East India Company was on the verge on bankruptcy with stocks of tea that it could not sell in England. The act gave the company the right to export its merchandise directly to the colonies without paying any of the navigation taxes. With these privileges, the East India Company could undersell American merchants and monopolize the colonial tea trade. This act revived American passions of taxation without representation. -
Boston Tea Party
The Tea Act angered the colonists. In response, when a new shipment of tea was in Boston Harbor, colonists dressed as Native Americans dumped chests of tea in the water. In anger, Prime Minister North convinced Parliament to pass the Coercive Acts. -
Coercive Acts
4 acts meant to restore order in Boston and punish the colonists for the Boston Tea Party. The acts took away Massachusetts' self-government and historic rights. This greatly angered the colonists and caused the formation of the First Continental Congress. -
Quebec Act
Allowed the former French region to be self-sufficient and expand its borders, taking away potential lands from the colonists in the Ohio River Valley. This angered the colonists and played a role in inspiring them to organize the First Continental Congress. -
1st Continental Congress
In response to the Coercive Acts, colonial leaders decided to quickly organize and protect themselves from any more British retaliation. Therefore, the First Continental Congress was formed in Philadelphia in September 1774 to discuss acceptable reactions and forms of protest regarding the Coercive Acts. -
Battle of Lexington/Concord
700 British soldiers were given orders to destroy rebel military supplies. At Lexington, a small skirmish occurred but the British pressed onward towards Concord for the search of arms. The minutemen were able to force a British retreat, bolstering confidence and inspiring many patriots to take arms. This marked the start of the American Revolutionary War. -
2nd Continental Congress
In 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened after the American Revolutionary War had already begun. In 1776, it took the momentous step of declaring America’s independence from Britain. Five years later, the Congress ratified the first national constitution, the Articles of Confederation. -
Olive Branch Petition
As a last effort to preserve peace, the Second Continental Congress voted to send the Olive Branch Petition to Britain which reasserted colonial loyalty to the crown and asked the King to intervene with parliament on their behalf. However, the King didn’t recognize the Second Continental Congress as a legitimate governing body and did not accept the petition. -
Declaration of Independence
Written by Thomas Jefferson, it was a document that listed grievances towards the King and served as a formal declaration of war. It announced the colonies’ unanimous decision to leave Great Britain, and established fundamental ideas of American government.
