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Sugar Act
-Indirect Tax (out of sight=out of mind)
-Duties on molasses and sugar -
Stamp Act
- Tax on all paper products
- Official stamp/seal on all paper items
- Purchased only with valuable silver coins
- If not purchased= fined or jailed
- Direct Tax
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Declaratory Act
- Parliament declares it had power to make laws for the colonies " in all cases whatsoever"
- Parliament passes this to save face
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Townshend Act
-Taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea
- Searched for smuggled goods -
Boston Massacre
– Crowd gathers hassles soldier, throwing snowballs and shouting insults
– More troops arrive, colonists get more and more angry
– “Fire if you dare!” -
Tea Act
-Passed in 1773 and allowed British East India Company (BEIC) to sell tea directly to colonists
- Lower Prices than colonist merchant prices
-Tax Tea cheaper than smuggled tea
-Less smuggling = more tax money -
Boston Tea Party
-Members of Sons of Liberty Dump over 340 chests of tea into Boston Harbor
- Caused problems for loyalists/Tories
-Loyalist/Tory = a person in the colony who remains loyal to the king & Great Britain -
Intolerable Act
-Passed to punish Boston for Tea Party
- Boston Harbor Closed until tea paid for
-Massachusetts Charter canceled
-Quartering Act required colonists to house soldiers
“If a soldier comes knocking at the door….you’re sleeping on the floor”
-General Thomas Gage became new governor of MA -
Continental Congress meets
-All colonies but Georgia have representatives.
-Voted to send a "statement of grievances."
- Voted to boycott all British Trade.
-Patrick Henry-VA rep. urged colonists to unite against Britain. -
First Continental Congress
-All colonies but Georgia have representatives
-voted to send a"statement of grievances
-Voted to Boycott all British trade
- Patrick Henry - VA rep. urged colonists to unite against Britain. -
1,000 Red Coats
General Gage brings thousands of British soldiers to Boston with more on the way. -
Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Paul Revere rides to warn the Sons of Liberty in Lexington and Concord that the “British are coming… The British are coming.." -
Lexington & Concord
Battles of Lexington -
– 1st battle of American Revolutionary War
– “shot heard round the world” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
– BRITISH Victory
Battle of Concord -
– Americans Stop British and force them to retreat back to Boston
– AMERICAN Victory -
Capture of Fort Ticonderoga
-Benedict Arnold & Ethan Allen capture the fort
-Get all supplies in the fort including cannons
-AMERICAN Victory -
Second Continental Congress Meet
-Print $$$
-Set up post office
-Created Continental Army led by George Washington
-Sent Olive Branch asking King to protect their rights
– King hires 30,000 Hessians Soldiers in response -
Battle of Bunker Hill
-Fought on Breed’s Hill
- “Don’t Fire until you see the whites of their eyes” - Williams Prescott
-BRITISH Victory (Americans ran out of ammunition) British learn defeating Americans would NOT be easy. -
Washington arrives on outskirts of Boston with Continental Troops
-Realizes men are disorganized & need discipline
-Need Weapons -
Common Sense
-Pamphlet inspires more colonists to become patriots
- “Everything that is right or reasonable pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries , ‘ TIS TIME TO PART” - Thomas Paine, Common Sense -
British Surrender Boston
-Washington believes his army is ready & weapons arrive
-Washington puts cannons on Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston
-BRITISH retreat – AMERICAN Victory -
Second Continental Congress meet again
-Debate on declaring independence
-Thomas Jefferson is the primary author of the document -
Second Continental Congress votes for Independence
The Congress debated Lee's resolution. Some delegates still thought the colonies should not form a separate nation. Others argued that war had already begun and they should be free from Great Britain -
The Declaration of Independence is signed
The Congress chose a committee to write a Declaration of Independence. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman formed the committee.