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First Navigation Laws to control colonial commerce
navigational actsEnglish aws in the 17th – 18th centuries that required the use of English or colonial ships to carry English trade. The laws were designed to encourage English shipbuilding and restrict trade competition from England's commercial rivals, especially the Dutch. The acts of the 18th century gradually restricted trade by the American colonies and contributed to growing colonial resentment with the imposition of additional duties on sugar, tobacco, and molasses. -
Seven Years' War (French and Indian War) ends
North American phase of a war between France and Britain to control colonial territory (1754 – 63). The war's more complex European phase was the Seven Years' War. Earlier phases of the quest for overseas mastery were King William's War (1689 – 97), Queen Anne's War (1702 – 13), and King George's War (1744 – 48). The North American dispute was whether the upper Ohio River valley was a part of the British empire or part of the French Empire; the bigger question was which national culture would do -
sugar act
1764 Act that put a three-cent tax on foreign refined sugar and increased taxes on coffee, indigo, and certain kinds of wine. It banned importation of rum and French wines. These taxes affected only a certain part of the population, but the affected merchants were very vocal. Besides, the taxes were enacted (or raised) without the consent of the colonists. This was one of the first instances in which colonists wanted a say in how much they were taxed. -
stamp act
On February 6th, 1765 George Grenville rose in Parliament to offer the fifty-five resolutions of his Stamp Bill. A motion was offered to first read petitions from the Virginia colony and others was denied. The bill was passed on February 17, approved by the Lords on March 8th, and two weeks later ordered in effect by the King. The Stamp Act was Parliament's first serious attempt to assert governmental authority over the colonies. Great Britain was faced with a massive national debt following the -
Quarting act
in American colonial history, the British parliamentary provision (actually an amendment to the annual Mutiny Act) requiring colonial authorities to provide food, drink, quarters, fuel, and transportation to British forces stationed in their towns or villages. Resentment over this practice is reflected in the Third Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which forbids it in peacetime.
The Quartering Act was passed primarily in response to greatly increased empire defense costs in America following -
townshend act
Taxes on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper, and tea were applied with the design of raising £40,000 a year for the administration of the colonies. The result was the resurrection of colonial hostilities created by the Stamp Act.
Reaction assumed revolutionary proportions in Boston, in the summer of 1768, when customs officials impounded a sloop owned by John Hancock, for violations of the trade regulations. Crowds mobbed the customs office, forcing the officials to retire to a British Warship in th -
brit troops occupy boston
British troops land in Boston to enforce the Townshend duties (taxes on paint, paper, tea, etc., passed in June 1767) and clamp down on local radicals. The troops' presence doesn't sit well with locals and leads to street fights. One clash between soldiers and a mob in March 1770 will leave five dead. Radicals will call it the Boston Massacre, while the British will call it the incident on King Street. -
Boston massacre
The Boston Massacre was the killing of five colonists by British regulars on March 5, 1770. It was the culmination of tensions in the American colonies that had been growing since Royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1768 to enforce the heavy tax burden imposed by the Townshend Acts. -
commitees of correspndence formed
The Committees of Correspondence were formed throughout the colonies as a means of coordinating action against Great Britain. Many were formed by the legislatures of the respective colonies, others by extra-governmental associations such as the Sons of Liberty in the various colonies. In any case, the members of these organizations represented the leading men of each colony. It took some time, and finally an act as dramatic as the Boston Port Bill, to coordinate the colonies in action against Gr -
Brit east india trading company granted tea monoploy
English chartered company formed for trade with East and Southeast Asia and India, incorporated in 1600. It began as a monopolistic trading body, establishing early trading stations at Surat, Madras (now Chennai), Bombay (Mumbai), and Calcutta (Kolkata). Trade in spices was its original focus; this broadened to include cotton, silk, and other goods. In 1708 it merged with a rival and was renamed the United Co. of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies. Becoming involved in politics, it -
quebec act
(1774) British statute establishing Quebec's government and extending its borders. It provided for a governor and appointed council, religious freedom for Roman Catholics, and use of the French civil code. The act attempted to resolve the problem of making the colony a province of British North America and tried to build French-Canadian loyalty to the British. It also extended the borders of Quebec to include the land between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, a region claimed by American colonist -
first continenial congress
The First Continental Congress brought together representatives from each of the colonies, except Georgia, to discuss their response to the British "Intolerable Acts." -
intolarable acts
Definition: Series of laws sponsored by British Prime Minister Lord North and enacted in 1774 in response to the Boston Tea Party. The laws were these: Impartial Administration of Justice Act, which allowed the royal governor of a colony to move trials to other colonies or even to England if he feared that juries in those colonies wouldn't judge a case fairly
Massachusetts Bay Regulating Act made all law officers subject to appointment by the royal governor and banned all town meetings that did -
Philadelphia Quakers found world's first antislavery society
Founding of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery (PAS), the world's first antislavery society and the first Quaker anti-slavery society. Benjamin Franklin becomes Honorary President of the Society in 1787. -
battles of lexington and concord
The first shots starting the revolution were fired at Lexington, Massachusetts. On April 18, 1775, British General Thomas Gage sent 700 soldiers to destroy guns and ammunition the colonists had stored in the town of Concord, just outside of Boston. They also planned to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock, two of the key leaders of the patriot movement. -
New Jersey constitution temporarily gives women the vote (taken away)
New Jersey granted women the vote (with the same property qualifications as for men, although, since married women did not own property in their own right, only unmarried women and widows qualified) under the state constitution of 1776, where the word "inhabitants" was used without qualification of sex or race. New Jersey women, along with "aliens...persons of color, or negroes," lost the vote in 1807, when the franchise was restricted to white males, partly in order, ostensibly at least, to com -
Articles of Confederation adopted by Second Continental Congress
The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777. However, ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur until March 1, 1781. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Con -
Massachusetts adopts fi rst constitution drafted in convention and ratified by popular vote
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articles of confederation put into effect
Early U.S. constitution (1781 – 89) under the government by the Continental Congress, replaced in 1787 by the U.S. Constitution. It provided for a confederation of sovereign states and gave the Congress power to regulate foreign affairs, war, and the postal service, to control Indian affairs, and to borrow money. Under the Articles, Congress settled state claims to western lands and established the Northwest Ordinances. But Congress had no power to enforce its requests to the states for money or -
land oridanance 1785
Law passed by Congress that allowed for sales of land in the Northwest Territory and set up standards for land sale that became precedents. Among them was the idea of selling mile-square sections of land. -
shays rebellion
The crisis of the 1780s was most intense in the rural and relatively newly settled areas of central and western Massachusetts. Many farmers in this area suffered from high debt as they tried to start new farms. Unlike many other state legislatures in the 1780s, the Massachusetts government didn't respond to the economic crisis by passing PRO-DEBTOR LAWS (like forgiving debt and printing more PAPER MONEY). As a result local sheriffs seized many farms and some farmers who couldn't pay their debts -
First Continental Congress calls for abolition of slave trade
In a third compromise the abolition of the slave-trade was introduced. South Carolina opposed immediate abolition. New England ship-owners made great profits by the trade. The New England states, South Carolina and Georgia voted that Congress should be powerless to stop the trade before 1808, extending the slave trade for twenty more years. -
North west oridence
Considered to be one of the most significant achievements of the Congress of the Confederation, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 put the world on notice not only that the land north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi would be settled but that it would eventually become part of the United States. Until then this area had been temporarily forbidden to development. -
Ratification by nine states guarantees a new government under the Constitution
Written in 1787, ratified in 1788, and in operation since 1789, the United States Constitution is the world’s longest surviving written charter of government. Its first three words – “We The People” – affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens. The supremacy of the people through their elected representatives is recognized in Article I, which creates a Congress consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The positioning of Congress at the beginning -
Board of Trade assumes governance of colonies
Board of tradeAdvisory body that supervised American colonial affairs. Established in 1696 to replace the Lords of Trade (1675 – 96), it examined colonial legislation to ensure maximum benefit to British trade policies. The board nominated colonial governors, recommended laws affecting the colonies to Parliament, and heard complaints from the colonies about its administrators. It lacked executive or legislative powers, but it became the primary colonial policy-making body of the British government. -
declatory act
(1766) Declaration by the British Parliament that accompanied repeal of the Stamp Act. It stated that Parliament's authority was the same in America as in Britain and asserted Parliament's authority to make laws binding on the American colonies.
