Pre-Revolutionary Causes of the American Revolution

  • Mercantilism

    Britain and France attempt to regulate the economies of their respective colonies in order to benefit the economies of the mother nations.
  • Hudson Bay and East India Companies

    Established by the Navigation Acts. Utilized by mercantilism to dominate trade in their respective regions.
  • Commodity Money

    1700s; barter system trading furs and skins instead of using money
  • Salutary Neglect

    Philosophy throughout the 1700s till the Molasses Act of 1733; the colonists were more or less left to their own devices. Laws passed but not enforced.
  • John Locke

  • Gold Coast

    The primary coast where the International Slave Trade originated and supplied the most slaves
  • Queen Anne's War

    England fights France and Spain in the Carribean and New France; one of the first wars fought on colonial soil. It was ended by the Peace of Utrecht.
  • Georgia

    Established by James Oglethrope; safe haven for poor farmers
  • Hat Act of 1732

    Forbade the manufacture of hats in the colonies. Domination of colonist trade.
  • Molasses Act of 1733

    Place a prohibitive duty on sugar brought in from foreign colonies to North America; ended salutary neglect; Britain wanted to tax the colonies to enhance its own economy
  • Stono's Rebellion

    20 newly-arrived Angolans raided an armory in South Carolina and marauded thowards Florida; brought home to many Americans the danger of slaves
  • King George's War

    England and France are at war. This is the second american round of involvement in the War of Austrian Succession.
  • Iron Act of 1750

    Forbade the mining of iron in the colonies. Again dominating colonist trade.
  • William Pitt

    He was an enthusiastic advocate of british expansion, and assumed prime ministership of Great Britain in 1757. Completely commited british forces to the colonies, which was over 20,000 men
  • Pontiac's Rebellion

    Indian tribe all coordinated and attacked British settlements and forts simultaneously. they killed over 2000 settlers. Ambherst used small pox infected blankets to kill the indians. they succeded in capturing and burning 8 British posts but no key Forts. ended in stalemate
  • French Crescent

    France's control over a ring of land hemming in the British colonies, preventing their expansion; ended in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris that ended the French and Indian War
  • Treaty of Paris

    France lost all possessions in North American mainland. Succeded all land claims east of the Mississippi to Britain except New Orleans
  • Proclamation of 1763

    the lands west of the Appalacian mountains was set aside as indian territoryand any land purchase in that area had to be authorized by the crown.
  • Paxton Boys

    in retaliation to the Proclamation of 1763 a mob of Pennsylvanians killed 20 indian men women and children. when authorities caught them over 600 frontiersmen protested them being arrested.
  • George Grenville

    was the Chancellor of the Exchequer. he decided that additional needed revenue should come from the colonies and proposed and pushed the sugar act.
  • Sugar act

    placed a prohibitive duty on all sugar imported to the colonies. This would squeeze the colonial merchants income and their lucrative smuggaling careers.
  • Stamp act

    required the purchase of specially embossed papers for all newspapers, legal documents, licenses, insurance policies, ship's papers and even dice and playing cards.affected almost everyone including lawyers printers and tavern owners
  • Declatory act

    This was passed unnoticed by the colonies because it was passed right after the repeal of the stamp act. it stated that england had the right and authority to place any duties or laws it wanted on the colonies
  • Townshend Acts

    placed high import duties on items like lead, glass, paint, paper and tea. hoped to redress the colonial grievences against internal taxes
  • Treaty of Fort Stanwik

    The Iroquois indians gave up all claim to the ohio valley hoping to direct English settlement away from their homelands
  • Boston Massacre

    a crowd of people taunted a british guard at the common house and when his back up arrived they were pelted with snowballs and rocks. without their officers orders to do so the soldiers open up and fired on the crowd killing three men and wounded six more. two of the wounded men died shortly after due to injuries