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Stamp Act
Passed March 22, 1765 and required all legal documents, licenses, commercial contracts, newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards to carry a tax stamp. -
The Townshend Act
The Townshend Acts were a series of acts passed beginning in 1767 by the Parliament. The purpose of the Townshend Acts was to raise revenue in the colonies to pay the salaries of governors and judges so they would be independent of colonial control, to create a more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade regulations, to punish New York for failing to comply with the 1765 Quartering Act, and to establish the precedent that the British Parliament had the right to tax the colonies. -
The Boston Massacre
On March 5, 1770 an angry mob clashed with several British troops. Five colonists died as a result and many colonists were angered. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government. On December 16, 1773, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor. The incident remains an iconic event of American history, and reference is often made to it in other political protests. -
First Continental Congress
On Spetember 5, 1774 twelve representatives of the thirteen colonies met up in Philidelphia. They discussed their response to the Intolerable Acts by Britain and they also touched on three objectives: to compose a statement of colonial rights, to identify British parliaments violation of those rights, and to provide a plan that would convince Britain to restore those rights. -
Second Continental Congress Called
On May 10, 1775 the memebrs of the Second Congress established the militia as the Continental Army to represent the thirteen states. They also elected George Washington as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. -
Declaration of Independence
On July 4, 1776 this document was signed and it has a preamble that explains the reasons of self-government against British rules, reservation to conduct trade, foreign alliances and necessary rights to raise war. -
Articles of Confederation Passed
Adopted November 15, 1777 and was the first Constitution of the United States of America. Established a “firm league of friendship” between and among the 13 states. Eventually these articles were retired because Congress had no power to collect taxes, regulate interstate commerce, and enforce laws. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris formally ended the American Revolutionary War between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United States of America, which had rebelled against British rule.
