-
Navigation Laws
The Navigation Laws were put into place by the British on the colonies in order to control the economy. The first was directed at the Duth shipping business to the colonies that was taking away from the British and their profits. Other parts of these laws required items to first go to England, where they would be charged with customs duties, and then go on to the colonies. -
Sugar Act
Prime Minister George Grenville, after the French and Indian War, called for the Nagivation Laws to be more heavily enforced and also enacted the Sugar Act, which increased duties and taxes on sugar imported from the West Indies. -
Quartering Act
The Quartering Act required some colonies to give food and housing to British soldiers. This was seen as an outrage by the colonists, who didn't want to host the oppressive soldiers enforcing the unfair British laws in their own houses. The prime minister also created taxes to raise more money for the military. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act required official documents (e.g. mortgages) to be on stamped paper- these stamps had a tax. Colonists disagreed with the taxes because first, they did not think it was needed for the military, and second, because "no taxation without representation," which became a popular saying because of this act. -
Stamp Act Congress
9 out of the 13 colonies sent representatives to New York to discuss the Stamp Act. This was similary to the Albany Congress during the French and Indian War in that it created more national unity between the colonies, but was largely ignored (especially in Britain). -
Boston Massacre
About 60 townspeople gathered in Boston and were harassing British soldiers/officers (redcoats) throwing snowballs, pebbles/rocks, etc. The British retailiated, although without direct orders, by firing and killing 11 townspeople.
One of those killed during the massacre was a former slave Crisupus Attucks, who then became a martry and symbol for liberty. -
Boston Tea Party
Whites led by Samuel Adams (the Sons of Liberty) dressed as Indians rebelled against British taxing by going, during the night, to the port in Boston and dumping 342 chests of tea they had opened into the harbour. -
Period: to
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress decided on "grievences," or complains/wishes for Parliament from the colonies, as well as a Declaration of Rights. While the colonies didn't want independence, they did want to see change in policy. Parliament ignored these complaints. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were a series of acts that punished or harmed the colonies. These included:
The Boston Port Act: when British closed the Boston harbour, a major trading and shipping center, to punish the colonies with the Boston Port Act. The Quebec Act: allowed French in the Ohio Valley to practice Catholicism. (This policy was overall good, but was grouped with the "oppressive" acts, and thus rejected by the colonists) -
Lexington and Concord
A conflict occured in Lexington and Concord between troops from Boston that had been sent by their commander to seize weapons and collect Sam Adams and John Hancock and the local minutemen.
This was the "shot heard around the world." -
1800