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Navigation Act
The Navigation Acts were laws passed by England that were passed used to keep control over colonial trade. They limited the Colonies potential trade partners. -
Writs of Assistance
The writs of assistance caused the colonists to protest their continuous loss of rights. The writs allowed for the British to search any house they thought might be smuggling. -
Treaty of Paris 1763
Ended the war between Britain and France over the land west of the Ohio river. This document severly crippled the French. -
Proclamation of 1763
The British, having lost too much money fighting Indians on the frontier, say that the colonists can no longer settle there. This angers the colonists as they just got that land to settle. -
Quartering Act
The quartering act required colonists to house British soldiers in their houses to act as watchdogs. The king used these acts to negate the need for housing of the soldiers. -
Sugar Act
The sugar act increased the cost of molasses. Colonists protested this tax, among many others, because they did not have a say in it. -
Stamp Act Congress
First american congress, discussed the stamp act. Elected officials from American colonies came. -
British Repeal the Stamp Act
Colonists protest so much that the British repealed the Stamp Act. The repealing of the law caused a precedent to be set, therefor the colonists thought they could just protest and get their way. -
Declaratory Act
The declaratory act was more a declaration by the king that they still had power. Colonists generally just ignored the act and went on with their lives. -
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts were laws put into place by parliament/the king to tax items before they got to the colonists. Colonists were angry about the taxes, that they saw through, and rioted. -
Boston massacre
The British were lured into a quite bad situation when they came to the defense of a private. The colonists formed a mob around them and eventually one of the soldiers accidental discharged their rifle and the massacre happened. -
Tea Act
The tea act was made to protect the East India Company from going under. It granted the company a monopoly on all tea trade with the colonies. -
Boston Tea Party
Because the colonists were mad about "taxation without representation" they got organized into protest by Sam Adams. They took a British ship and dumped/destroyed all the tea in the ship. -
Coercive Acts
The aim of the coercive acts was to restore order to the Massachusetts colony after the Boston Tea Party. Among colonists they were called the intolerable acts because of how anti-colonist they were. -
First Continental Congress
The first continental congress was when all the colonies, except Georgia, convened and discussed their plan of action. The congress drafted a list of rights and grievances of the colonies. -
Declaration of Independence
The five-man committee created the declaration in Philadelphia. The participants included Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. It was largely written by Jefferson, he is considered the "father of the declaration". -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
Paul Revere's warning of rebels that British soldiers were arriving kick started the first battle of the revolutionary war. The standoff ended with the "shot heard around the world" and the war finally starting. -
Second Continental Congress
The second congress' main purpose was to discuss what to do in the revolutionary war. They also discussed what they would do for a military. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
The colonists, who held bunker hill, were under siege by British troops, they were without enough supplies, so the famous line "don't shoot till you see the whites of their eyes!" originated from that. They British had a Pyrrhic victory though, losing almost 3 times the colonist loses. -
Olive Branch Petition
The congress allowed the British to have one last chance for peace, the Olive Branch Petition. The king rejected it as soon as he got it though. -
Common Sense
Thomas Paine published a pamphlet called Common Sense arguing the patriots case against the crown. It sold many thousands of copies and greatly influenced the direction the revolution was headed.